DOJ upholds Philhealth’s deal with Red Cross on Covid testing

THE Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (Philhealth) is now willing to pay half of the P930 million it owes to the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) for the testing of thousands of repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWS).

In an online press briefing on Monday, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque made the disclosure after PhilHealth finally received the position of the Department of Justice (DOJ) upholding the legality of its Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with PRC.

DOJ said the MOA is allowed under the Universal Health Care Law. Likewise, said DOJ, the advance cash payment of P100 million made by Philhealth to PRC for the purpose of the testing of OFWS is legal as long as it is authorized by the President.

“If they [PRC] accept 50 percent [payment] right now, it will be paid but they should resume the testing [of OFWS],” Roque said.

On Sunday, Philhealth said in a brief statement that it was willing to pay PRC on October 26, 2020, “subject to the completeness of billing requirements submitted by PRC” and in compliance with the rules of the Commission on Audit (COA)

Roque, however, lamented that PRC continued to refuse the partial payment and insisting it be paid in full instead.

Processing improvement

PRC suspended the processing of the swab samples of OFWS on October 15, 2020, because of the late payment of Philhealth.

It noted it needed the fund so it could replenish its stock of reverse transcription-polymerase reaction (RTPCR) test kits for Covid-19.

The deferment of PRC’S testing left at least 6,000 OFWS stranded in Metro Manila last week because of the slower processing time of government laboratories to release the test results of the concerned OFWS.

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) said the processing has since improved, which enabled it to eventually send home 7,000 OFWS in the last four days.

Currently, OWWA administrator Hans Cacdac said 5,200 OFWS are staying in accommodations in the National Capital Region (NCR) to wait for their test results.

“These are ones who arrived from October 21 onwards,” Cacdac explained.

Limited arrival

TO ensure government laboratories will be able to keep up with the submission of swab samples, Cacdac said the National Task Force for Covid-19 (NTF) decided to limit the number of arrivals of Filipinos in the country.

Prior to PRC’S suspension of its testing, he said they were able to register an average of 1,500 to 2,500 OFWS per day.

He said this was limited to just 1,000 to 1,500.

The OWWA chief assured the public that Philhealth will pay for the testing of OFWS regardless if it is processed in PRC or in government laboratories.

He issued the clarification after PRC reported it got reports of some OFWS allegedly being charged P20,000 to get their test results.